Restaurant in Madrid, Spain
Stadium address, serious kitchen — book it.
A Michelin Plate-recognised Modern Spanish-Japanese restaurant inside Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, 99 Sushi Bar is worth booking as a special-occasion dinner in Madrid's north. The sushi counter, where the chef works against a cascading water backdrop, is the standout feature. At the €€€€ tier, it's accessible enough to book without weeks of advance planning, unlike most of its Madrid peers.
The most common assumption about 99 Sushi Bar is that it's a stadium novelty, a convenient stop before a Real Madrid match rather than a restaurant worth planning a trip around. That reading is wrong. Located inside Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, this Michelin Plate-recognised address (2024 and 2025) delivers Modern Spanish-Japanese cooking at a level that holds its own against Madrid's broader €€€€ dining tier. If you're looking for a special-occasion dinner in Madrid's north, this is worth the booking, not just the walk-in.
The room does more work than most stadium restaurants could ever manage. The defining spatial feature is the sushi counter, where the chef works in direct view of guests against a backdrop of cascading water. It's a deliberate theatrical staging: intimate enough to feel considered, open enough to watch the preparation unfold. For a special occasion or a business dinner where atmosphere matters, the counter positioning is a genuine asset. The setting reads as a composed escape from the surrounding Bernabéu activity, not an extension of it. For groups seeking privacy, the dining room offers a more conventional configuration, but the counter is where the experience is most focused.
Address at Gate 39, Calle Padre Damián 3, is direct to reach for anyone already familiar with the Bernabéu precinct. It's worth noting that the location works in your favour on non-match nights, when the surrounding area is quieter and securing your table or a counter seat is easier.
Chef Iván Muñoz runs a kitchen that treats Japanese technique as a starting point rather than a rulebook. The result is a Modern Spanish-Japanese hybrid that leans toward crowd accessibility without sacrificing craft. Dishes are built around familiarity and precision rather than provocation. The Michelin Plate recognition across two consecutive years, combined with a listing in the Opinionated About Dining Leading Restaurants in Europe (ranked #540 in 2025, and recommended among Leading New Restaurants in 2023), confirms this isn't a venue coasting on its location. The cooking earns its place in the category.
For first-timers, the bar counter is the most direct way into the experience: you see each preparation, the pacing is set by the kitchen rather than the clock, and the format suits solo diners and couples equally well. For groups of three or more, the dining room works better logistically, though you lose some of the immediacy of counter service.
At the €€€€ price tier, 99 Sushi Bar sits at the same level as Madrid's most celebrated kitchens. The key question is whether that spend is justified here. The honest answer: yes, for what it is, but you need to go in with the right framing. This is not a destination for tasting-menu maximalists chasing Michelin stars; for that, DiverXO or Deessa are the correct choices. At 99 Sushi Bar, the value case rests on the quality of the Japanese-Spanish execution, the spatial experience, and the relative ease of securing a table compared to the city's hardest-to-book rooms. For a date night or a business lunch where you want reliable cooking without a months-long waiting list, the €€€€ price is defensible.
Sushi and Japanese-inflected cooking is one of the few fine-dining formats where the off-premise question is genuinely worth asking. The honest position here: the experience at 99 Sushi Bar is significantly tied to the counter setting and the live preparation. The cascade-water backdrop, the sushi chef working in front of you, the spatial staging described above — none of that travels. If you're weighing a delivery or takeout order against dining in, the calculation is direct: the room is part of what you're paying for at this price tier. Off-premise removes the primary differentiator. Order in only if the alternative is skipping the venue entirely, and treat the in-room counter experience as non-negotiable when circumstances allow.
Booking difficulty here is rated Easy relative to Madrid's €€€€ tier. You are not competing with the waitlists that apply at Coque or Paco Roncero. That said, for a specific counter seat at a Saturday dinner, book at least a week ahead. Match-day evenings at the Bernabéu create unusual demand patterns, so avoid those dates unless you enjoy the energy of the surrounding crowd.
Hours run Tuesday through Saturday for both lunch (1:30–3:30 pm) and dinner (9–11:30 pm), with Sunday lunch available (1:30–3:30 pm) but no Sunday dinner service. Monday follows the same two-session format. Plan accordingly if you're working around a fixed Madrid schedule.
99 Sushi Bar works leading for: couples on a date night who want a spatially considered room with good food and no marathon tasting menu; business lunches in Madrid's north where the Bernabéu-adjacent location is convenient; and solo diners who want a proper counter experience at a Michelin-recognised address. It is less suited to groups of six or more seeking a celebratory blow-out (look at Coque for that), or to diners primarily chasing the most technically ambitious cooking in the city (where DiverXO is the answer).
For broader context on where 99 Sushi Bar sits in the Spanish fine-dining picture, the country's most celebrated kitchens include Arzak in San Sebastián, Azurmendi in Larrabetzu, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, and Martin Berasategui in Lasarte-Oria. Within Madrid specifically, see our full Madrid restaurants guide for a complete picture of where this venue sits in the city's dining options. If you're planning a wider trip, our Madrid hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide cover the rest.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99 sushi bar | Modern Spanish, Japanese | €€€€ | Easy |
| DiverXO | Progressive - Asian, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Coque | Spanish, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Deessa | Modern Spanish, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Paco Roncero | Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Smoked Room | Progressive Asador, Contemporary | €€€€ | Unknown |
Comparing your options in Madrid for this tier.
The address inside Santiago Bernabéu and the €€€€ price tier signal a dressed-up crowd. Business casual is the floor here — think collared shirts or evening separates. Trainers and sportswear worn by match-goers in the stadium are out of place inside the restaurant.
The location inside a football stadium sounds like a red flag but isn't — the room is spatially considered, with a working sushi counter as the focal point. Chef Iván Muñoz treats Japanese technique as a starting point rather than a constraint, so expect a Spanish-Japanese hybrid rather than traditional omakase. Booking is rated Easy by Pearl relative to Madrid's €€€€ tier, which means you won't face the waitlists that apply at Coque or Paco Roncero.
Yes, and it is the best seat in the room. The sushi counter is the defining spatial feature, where the chef prepares dishes directly in front of guests, with a cascade of water as the backdrop. If counter dining is available when you book, prioritise it over a table.
Lunch runs 1:30–3:30 pm daily and is the sharper value play for business diners or those who want the full experience without a late finish. Dinner runs until 11:30 pm Monday through Saturday, which suits date nights where you want the room to itself — Sunday dinner is not offered, so check before you plan.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy relative to Madrid's €€€€ tier, so a week out is typically sufficient outside Real Madrid match weekends. On match days the surrounding area gets congested and demand for the restaurant spikes — book at least two to three weeks ahead if your dates overlap with a home fixture at the Bernabéu.
Yes — the sushi counter is the natural solo seat, and watching Chef Iván Muñoz work is a draw in itself. At €€€€ per head it is a considered spend for one, but the counter format justifies it in a way that a standard table for one would not. Opinionated About Dining has ranked it in its Top European lists since 2023, which gives additional confidence that the solo experience holds up.
Small groups of three to five work well here, but larger parties should enquire directly about private or reserved sections, as the counter format prioritises smaller configurations. For a group that wants a full private dining buyout, Madrid alternatives with dedicated private rooms — Coque or Deessa — are better equipped. For groups up to four who want a genuinely interesting room and food, 99 Sushi Bar is the easier booking.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
